Deer Falls, Volume 1
Autumn hates her mother and the poverty they live in. She is ashamed of both but her hate defines her. If only her mother would tell her about her father or at least his name! When Autumn’s mother needs surgery, she opts to care for her rather than go to a foster home. It is during this time she finds her mother’s journals and her father. This reversal of mother/daughter roles renders insight to both sides of their relationship. Chris’s twin brother is murdered. He battles grief and doubts of his own sanity due to seeing and hearing his dead brother. He struggles with the transition from ‘Chris n Craig’ to ‘Just Chris’. It is the nightmares that finally reveal the awful truth. Ian is brutally abused by his alcoholic father. He develops empathic tendencies from being constantly alert to his father’s moods. He stays in a cave when things get really bad. Ian’s ability gets him into trouble with the law when he rescues a girl from being raped. It is then that Ian fears he is turning into his father. These three teens each find their way through unavoidable circumstances that life throws their way. Through these difficulties, they learn what is important to them, realize their own potential and who they are in the world.
Autumn hates her mother and the poverty they live in. She is ashamed of both but her hate defines her. If only her mother would tell her about her father or at least his name! When Autumn’s mother needs surgery, she opts to care for her rather than go to a foster home. It is during this time she finds her mother’s journals and her father. This reversal of mother/daughter roles renders insight to both sides of their relationship.
Chris’s twin brother is murdered. He battles grief and doubts of his own sanity due to seeing and hearing his dead brother. He struggles with the transition from ‘Chris n Craig’ to ‘Just Chris’. It is the nightmares that finally reveal the awful truth.
Ian is brutally abused by his alcoholic father. He develops empathic tendencies from being constantly alert to his father’s moods. He stays in a cave when things get really bad. Ian’s ability gets him into trouble with the law when he rescues a girl from being raped. It is then that Ian fears he is turning into his father.
These three teens each find their way through unavoidable circumstances that life throws their way. Through these difficulties, they learn what is important to them, realize their own potential and who they are in the world.
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<strong>Deer</strong> <strong>Falls</strong><br />
Her touch infuriates me even more. I shake her hand off my<br />
shoulder and stand up. I stare at her without a flinch and say coldly,<br />
"No. I don't know that, Mother. You won't even give me my dad."<br />
By the look on her face I know I've hit a home run, but it's nothing<br />
to cheer about. I raise my voice, "Instead, I have to hear people talk<br />
behind my back! Maybe I should ask one of them who my dad is<br />
because it seems to me that the whole town knows more about my life<br />
than I do! At least then I could be in on the joke," I burst into big, heavy<br />
tears before I can finish, "and know why they're laughing at me."<br />
"Autumn, who is laughing at you? What happened?" She tries to<br />
hug me. I step back and shove her arms away. I can't stand her right<br />
now. Her long, stringy hair and that old threadbare robe she's had my<br />
entire life, make me sick.<br />
"Don't! 'Cuz, right now I really hate you!" Through clenched teeth,<br />
I add, "You are such an embarrassment!"<br />
Mother's mouth gapes open in shock. I continue.<br />
"You, with your '70s skirts and hippie hair! No wonder my dad<br />
never comes around! God, you've never even been on a date. Doesn't<br />
that tell you anything, Mother? Your weirdness is like a wall that keeps<br />
everybody away, and I'm stuck in your prison!"<br />
I can tell I've ticked her off by the way her back stiffens, but then<br />
her face drops from hurt feelings. My words are true, and she knows it.<br />
I'm hoping that maybe this time, she'll break down and tell me about<br />
my dad. I wait, but as usual, being true to herself, she avoids the dad<br />
issue.<br />
"Go to your room, Autumn. Get ready for school." She points at the<br />
table. "There's your lunch money. Oh, and by the way; consider<br />
yourself grounded. Maybe next time you want to discuss a problem,<br />
you'll do it civilly."<br />
"Perfect, Mother," I say, staring into her eyes, "That solves all of<br />
our problems now, doesn't it?" I turn and go to my room, slamming<br />
my door behind me. I can still hear her voice through the door.<br />
"For being only fifteen, Autumn, you know how to solve all of life's<br />
problems, don't you?"<br />
9
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